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Language Arts & Disciplines Literacy

Breaking the Word Barrier

Stories of Adults Learning to Read

edited by Marilyn Lerch & Angela Ranson

Publisher
Goose Lane Editions
Initial publish date
Sep 2009
Category
Literacy
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780864925473
    Publish Date
    Sep 2009
    List Price
    $16.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780864926937
    Publish Date
    May 2011
    List Price
    $16.95

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Description

In this compelling collection of first-person stories, adults who have made outstanding achievements in adult literacy were paired with writers to tell of their transition to reading. These are people who have had the courage to overcome the barrier of words to break into a broader sense of themselves, to feel more empowered in the world. Courageous, too, is the very sharing of these stories, in which private moments are opened wide with the hope that others will take the same steps. Whether confronting undiagnosed dyslexia, a Canadian Tire store manager to ensure Christmas for a child, written tests for the military, certification exams, or jumping from an airplane, these people are heroes.

About the authors

Marilyn Lerch, who lives in Sackville, New Brunswick, has one cycle of poems and two collections of poetry published. She enters her seventh decade still asking the big questions, still wondering what our species is turning into, as excited by mourning doves nesting in the kiwi as she is by Hubble’s farthest reach.

Marilyn Lerch's profile page

Angela Ranson is a high school English teacher and a master of arts student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her short stories have appeared in Canadian Stories magazine and Angels on Earth magazine, and her non-fiction articles have appeared in several newspapers in the province, including the Moncton Times and Transcript. She is also writing scripts and recently wrote and directed a sold-out dinner theatre in Sackville, New Brunswick, entitled Spice of Life.

Angela Ranson's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"A tribute to courage."

Herménégilde Chiasson